Dear Friends,

Welcome to the “Asian Business Dialogue on Corporate Governance 2023”, our 22nd annual conference since ACGA’s founding in 1999. This will be our third conference in India following events in 2008, shortly after the start of the Asian Financial Crisis, and 2017. India has been an important market for ACGA research for more than 20 years and is one of 12 markets we cover in our biennial “CG Watch” survey of corporate governance and ESG ecosystems in Asia-Pacific. In more recent years it has become an increasingly important market for our engagement with financial regulators and major companies. We envisage this trend will continue as the Indian economy and capital markets grow in significance. ACGA investor member firms manage in excess of US$40 trillion globally and own material stakes in major Indian listed companies.

The theme of this year’s conference, “The future of governance: Asia’s fork in the road”, is intended to frame a discussion around the choices that governments, companies, investors and other market participants have regarding the type of corporate governance they want for their markets. We will delve into the tension between the commercial and regulatory functions of stock exchanges, the real challenges boards face in renewing themselves, the impact of concentrated ownership in the governance of state enterprises and family businesses, and many other issues. As always with an ACGA conference, we hope you leave stimulated and full of new ideas!

One factor that has allowed the “Asian Business Dialogue” to focus on programme content and speaker quality is the consistent and strong support of our regular sponsors. We would like to thank the following organisations for their generosity:

• Principal Sponsors: CLSA, Fidelity International
• Supporting Sponsors:  EY
• Workshop Sponsors: Capital Group, Norges Bank Investment Management

We are also very grateful to Institutional Investor Advisory Services (IiAS) for agreeing to be our Supporting Organisation this year. We worked with IiAS on our last India event in 2017 and it is a pleasure to collaborate with them again.

As always, a huge amount of work goes into organising each “Asian Business Dialogue”. I would like to thank all members of the ACGA Secretariat for overcoming numerous—and in some cases unique—obstacles to bring this year’s conference to a successful conclusion. Much appreciation must also go to the ACGA Council for supporting the choice of Mumbai as this year’s venue and contributing to the programme.

Finally, our gratitude to all our speakers and delegates this year. We trust it will be a memorable and worthwhile occasion for each of you.

Jamie Allen